of dayton



Sept. 4, 1928.

R. H. CHILTON SPRING SHACKLE Filed April 22, 1927 Patented Sept. 4, 1928.

UNIT-ED` STATES vPATENT OFFICE.

RALPH H. CHILTON, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE INLAND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

SPRING SHACKLE.

Application led April 22,1927. Serial No. 185,707.

This invention relates to iiexible couplings, especially such as are adapted for use as spring shackles on automobiles.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved form of flexible coupling having improved etliciency in operation and long life in use. i Y Y y My copending application Serial No. 17 9,- 361, filed March 29, 1927, discloses and claims lpresent invention both in objects sought and manner of obtaining said objects;

The present invention however provides an interior transverse flexible member which is materially different from that of said prior application. A feature of this transverse web lis its angularly extending cords in a transverse direction whereby lateral moveine-nt or cside sway between the parts connected bv the shackle will be limited or subs'tantiallyI7 prevented. Another feature thereofis that it provides these angularly extending cords in opposed diagonal directions, and also provides straight vertical cords for taking direct tension loads on the shackle.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In thc drawings:'

Fig. 1 illustrates a shackle built according to this invention mounted on the rear end of the from springof an automobile chassis. rllhe vertical section is takenv on line 1 1` of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on` vline 2 2 of Fig. 1. l Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating how the separate plies Vof the transverse flexible looped web may be Wrapped up over one another to forin the complete ylooped web in endless form. l

Sii'iiilar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the drawings. l umerals and 11 designate the two relatively movable members connected by the 'shackle` lO'being the chassis side rail or fitting rigidly fixed thereto, and 11 the projecting end of the long leaf of spring 12. rlhe molded unit, indicated as a whole Aby numeral 15, comprises a flexible eylindrically-,shaped endless rubberized fabric casing 16 which preferably is composed of a' plurality of a shackle somewhat similar to that of theVV therefor.

layers of rubberized cord-fabric with the substantially non-extensible cords thereof running' peripherally around the casing. EX- tending interiorly and transversely across the cylindrical casing 16 is .the separately formed eiidlessflexible rubberized fabric loop 17 havmg a plurality of-plies ofthe fabric material. The molded in situ metal clamping inserts 2O have Shanks 21, integral therewith or rigidly fixed thereto, which project outwardly through suitable apertures in the flexible loop 17 and cylindrical casing 16, as clearly shown. After casing 16 is formed the separately `formed loop 17 may be inserted in position therein and then the metal inserts 20 inserted in place from the inside of'loop 17 by extending shaiiks 21 through the apertures provided Unvulcanized rubber material in plastic form is then inserted in place to lill the sive bulging out at the uneoniined lateral sides thereof. These elastic rubber blocks 22 and 23 are of course firmly vulcanized to the ci sing 16 and to both webs of loop 17 and this tends to limit the above described lateral bulging of the elastic rubber when under compression. Preferably there are integrally Vmolded upon theabove described unit the Vrelatively stiff rubberized fabric seats 25 and the wedge shaped spaces 26 between' the seats f 25 and the casing 16 are filled with soft elastic rubber molded in place. This molded unit15 is vulcanized as a whole in a suitable vulcan- 'izingdie mold, the desired degree of softness or hardness of the rubber in various portions thereof being determined by the amounts of sulphur and accelerator in the unvulcanized rubber composition used in the various portions of said unit. By this means the soft rubber portion 23 may be vulcanized to a harder degree than the .portions 22 even though the entire unit is subjected to the same vulcanization process.

So far in this description, loop 17has been described simply as a rubberized fabric endless loop which may be wrapped up to the desired form from either strips of rubberized lll square woven fabric cut on a bias or from rubberized cord fabric with the cords thereof extending in a peripheral direction. How ever there is illustrated in Fig'. 3 my preferred method of i'ormingr this loop 17. A long strip of rubberizedcord fabric is wrapped around a suitable form, corresponding4 to the dimensionsI and spacing' of the metal inserts Q0, in such a way that in one web tl() of the loop 17 these cords 18 extend angularly from the right side to the left side (or vice versa) when looking at a transverse section of the unit shown in Fie. 9,) while in the other web 31 of Vthe loop 17 there cords 18 extend substantially vertically. llt the diamond shaped portion Sil of `web S the alternate plies of the cords lll extend at opposing angles and therefore cross each other. as will be clearly understood from 'Fie'. 3. Of course during vulcanization ol the unit the cords 18 are firmly bonded together at the overlapping' portion and thus the cords 18 extending at these opposing` angles mutually reinforce and strengthen each other. By this method of wrapping up the loop 17 the cords 18 are made to extend aneularly from one side of the. unit to the other in order to resist lateral distortion of the molded unit 15, and yet the cords 1S are continuous. that is, the diagonally laid cords are not cut ott at the points where they are clamped in place by the inserts 2() and hence a stronger construction is obtained.

'Vlie assembling; in place of the completed molded unit upon the spring leaf 11 and member 10 will now be described. A metal plate Ll() of e'rea ter lateral width than springleal 1l is hxed upon the project-ingend of lea l 'l1 b v the ill-shaped rivet ll1 whose shauks lil do not pierce leaf 1l but extend adjacent the ,sides thereof aud through holes in plate t() and have their ends t3 riveted over on top of plate 470. rlibe lower projecting shank 21 of unit Vl5 is passed through registering: holes l5 and flt in y pla te L'jl-0 and leaf1l respectively, and

thelock washer @t7 and nu t 4S applied. l'lVhen uut ab is drawn up very tight the clamping insert 2O clamps the casing` 1G and loop 17 down tightly upon seat Ll0 and thus fixes all these parts to the end of leaf 11. Preferably the under side of the tip of plate ll() is ground or Ytapered oil. as shown at 4114;. to provide a clearance between plate 1-0 and leaf 11 at this point and thus prevent any down load upon the tip end of leaf 11. This eliminates any possibility of leaf 11 breakin, where it is pierced at hole 46 due to a bending load. 'l`he construction ol. this shackle seat 4l() is similar to that described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 179,360 tiled March 29, 1927. i

il metal plate of the full width of unit 15 is rigidly fixed to the upper member 10 by rivets 51. The upper shank 2l of unit 15 is passed through registering' holes 52 and 53 `in plate 50 and member 1() respectively and lock washer 54 and nut 55 applied. By ti f ghtening nut 55 the upper portion of casing 16 and loop 17 are firmly clamped in non-slipping relation to member 10. Preferably the hole 53 in member 10 is so located relative to the hole 4to in the spring leaf 11 that these holes will be in substantial vertical alignment when spring` 12 is deflected to its normal or average position.4 This position is illustrated in Fig. 1.

lin operation, the flexible casing 16 is under tension and retains the elastic rubber 'blocks 22 and 23 in shape sulliciently to withstand compression loads upon the shackle. The spring' end 11 i permitted to move to and fro by a rollingdistortion of the unit 15, which rolling); distortion will not be materially re* sisted by the flexible loop 17 since loop 17 can easily swing' to and fro without tendency by such swinging; to compress the inner soft rubber block 23. Any relative lateral movement 'in either direction between member l() and leaf 11 will be resisted primarily by the angularly inclined cords 18 of the web 30 of loop 17 which obviously will be put under direct tension by such movement. Whenever there is any tension load upon the shackle'it will be taken primarily by the vertical cords 1S of the web 31 of loop 17. It is thus seen that loop. 17 takes the sidewise loads as well as the tension loads upon the unit 15 and so prevents damaging elongation thereof undertonsion loads and any tendency to lie over on r.its side under sidewise loads such as occur in turning sharply.

lllhilc the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutesI a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming` within the scope of the claims which follow. Y

lWhat is claimed is as follows:

1. An extension shackle connecting` two relatively movable members, said shackle comprising: a molded unit havine a flexible rublujrized textile casingvulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for lixmgr opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a separately formed flexible transverse web vextendine' through said rubber block and secured to said movable members respectively.

2. in extension shackle connectine' two relatively movable members, said sliackle comprising: a molded unit having a flexible rubberized textile casing' vulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for fixing' opposite portions of said unit to said movable membersrespectively, and a flexible looped web extending' through said rubber block and fixed to said movable members respectively.

3. An extension shackle connecting two relatively movable members, said shackle comprising: a molded unit having ya flexible rubberized textile casing vulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a flexible looped web extending through said rubber block and fixed to said movable ineinbers respectively, the two sides of said loop 4being spaced apart and elastic rubber vulcanized in place therebetween.

l. An extension shackle connecting two relatively movable members, said shackle comprising: a molded unit having a flexible rubberized textile casing vulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a flexible transverse web extending through said rubber block and secured to said movable members respectively, said Web having t en sion resisting threads therein extending transversely at a substantial angle to the center line of said molded unit.

5. An extension shackle connecting two relatively movable members, said shackle comprising: a molded unit having a flexible rubberized textile casing vulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a flexible transverse web extending through said rubber block and secured to said movable members respectively, said web having tension resisting threads therein extendingr diagonallv iii both directions and crossing the center line of' the transverse section of said molded unit.

ber block andsccured to said movable menibers respectively, said web comprising rubberized cords extending at a substantial angle in a transverse direction of said molded unit.

7. An extension shackle connecting two relatively movable meinbeis, said shackle comprising: a molded unit having a flexible rubberized textile casing vulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a flexible transverse web extendingl through said rubber block and secured to said movable members respectively, said web comprising rubberized cords extending angularly in both directions transversely of said molded unit.

8. An extension shackle connecting tivo yrelatively movable members, said shackle comprising; a molded unit having a flexible ubberized textile casing vulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for fixv ying opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a flexible looped web extending through said rubber block and fixed to said movable members respectively, said looped web comprising rubberized cords extendine` angularly in both directions transversely or said molded unit.-

9. Anextension shackle connecting tive relatively movable members, said shackle comprising: a molded unit having a flexible rubberized textile casing vulcanized upon an interior elastic soft rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a flexible looped web extending through said rubber block and fixed to said movable members respectively, said looped web comprising rubberized cords, a plurality of which are fixed to the upper movable member on the right side and to the lower movable member on the left side of' the vertical center line of the transverse section of said molded unit, and a plurality of' which cords are similarly but l oppositely fixed to said movable members.

l0. An extension shackle connecting tivo relatively movable members, said shackle comprising: a molded unit having a flexible rubberized textile casing vulcanized upon an interior velastic soft rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said unit to said movable members respectively, and a flexible looped web extending through said rubber block and fixed to said movable members iespectively, said looped web comprising rubberized cords which extend angularly transversely on one side of said loop and substantially vertically on the opposite side of said loop. Y

ll. An extension shackle connecting two relatively movable members, said shackle coi'nprisiiig: a flexible rubberized fabric casing vulcanized upon an interior elastic rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said casing to said movable members respectively, and a flexible transverse loop of rubberized fabric extending through said rubber I block and secured to said movable members respectively by said fixing mea-ns.

l2. An extension shackle connecting two relatively movable members, said shackle comprising: a flexible rubberized `abrio casing vulcanized upon an interior elast-ic rubber block, means for fixing opposite portions of said casing to said movable members respectively, and a flexible transverse loop of rubberized fabric extending through said rubber block and secured to said movable members respectively, said rubberized fabric loop having diagonally extending threads therein which are put under tension by relative lateral movement between said movable members.

In testimony whereof l hereto affix my signature.

RALPH l1. CHILTON.

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